Expo Camera RTMP Publisher

A React Native/Expo module for RTMP streaming from a mobile device camera. Currently only iOS platform is supported.

Features

• Video streaming via RTMP protocol
• Front and back camera support with switching capability
• Device flashlight control with brightness adjustment
• Configurable video and audio settings (resolution, bitrate)
• Audio muting control
• Broadcasting state management (start/stop/error events)
• Full integration with Expo permissions system
• Hardware-accelerated video encoding
• Built on HaishinKit for iOS

Installation

In managed Expo projects

npx expo install expo-camera-rtmp-publisher

In bare React Native projects

Make sure you have installed and configured the expo package before continuing.

npm install expo-camera-rtmp-publisher

iOS configuration

Run npx pod-install after installing the npm package.

Note: Android support is currently under development.

Usage

Basic example

import React, { useRef, useState } from "react";
import { Button, View } from "react-native";
import {
  ExpoCameraRtmpPublisherView,
  requestCameraPermissionsAsync,
  requestMicrophonePermissionsAsync,
} from "expo-camera-rtmp-publisher";

export default function App() {
  const [isPublishing, setIsPublishing] = useState(false);
  const [cameraReady, setCameraReady] = useState(false);
  const publisherRef = useRef(null);

  const startPublishing = async () => {
    try {
      await publisherRef.current?.startPublishing(
        "rtmp://your-rtmp-server/live",
        "stream-key",
        {
          videoWidth: 1080,
          videoHeight: 1920,
          videoBitrate: 2000000,
          audioBitrate: 128000,
        },
      );
    } catch (err) {
      console.error("Broadcasting error:", err);
    }
  };

  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1 }}>
      <ExpoCameraRtmpPublisherView
        ref={publisherRef}
        style={{ flex: 1 }}
        cameraPosition="front"
        muted={false}
        onReady={() => setCameraReady(true)}
        onPublishStarted={() => setIsPublishing(true)}
        onPublishStopped={() => setIsPublishing(false)}
        onPublishError={(error) => console.error(error)}
      />

      {cameraReady && (
        <Button
          title={isPublishing ? "Stop Broadcasting" : "Start Broadcasting"}
          onPress={isPublishing
            ? () => publisherRef.current?.stopPublishing()
            : startPublishing}
        />
      )}
    </View>
  );
}

Permissions

Before using the camera and microphone, you need to request permissions:

import { requestCameraPermissionsAsync, requestMicrophonePermissionsAsync } from 'expo-camera-rtmp-publisher;

async function requestPermissions() {
  const cameraPermission = await requestCameraPermissionsAsync();
  const microphonePermission = await requestMicrophonePermissionsAsync();
  
  if (!cameraPermission.granted || !microphonePermission.granted) {
    // Handle missing permissions
  }
}

Required Configuration Files

For the module to work properly, you need to add the following configurations to your project files:

iOS (Info.plist)

Add the following to your ios/Info.plist file to request camera and microphone permissions:

<key>NSCameraUsageDescription</key>
<string>The application requests access to the camera for video broadcasting</string>
<key>NSMicrophoneUsageDescription</key>
<string>The application requests access to the microphone for audio broadcasting</string>

API

ExpoCameraRtmpPublisherView

Properties

| Property | Type | Description | | ------------------ | ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | | cameraPosition | 'front' | 'back' | Camera position (default: 'front') | | muted | boolean | Audio muting state (default: false) | | onReady | () => void | Callback when the camera is ready | | onPublishStarted | () => void | Callback when broadcasting starts | | onPublishStopped | () => void | Callback when broadcasting stops | | onPublishError | (error: string) => void | Callback when a broadcasting error occurs |

Methods

| Method | Parameters | Description | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------- | | startPublishing | (url: string, name: string, options?: PublishOptions) | Starts RTMP broadcasting | | stopPublishing | () | Stops RTMP broadcasting | | switchCamera | () | Switches between front and back cameras | | toggleTorch | (level: number) | Controls flashlight (0.0-1.0) |

PublishOptions Type

| Property | Type | Default | Description | | -------------- | -------- | --------- | -------------------------------- | | videoWidth | number | 1080 | Video width in pixels | | videoHeight | number | 1920 | Video height in pixels | | videoBitrate | number | 2000000 | Video bitrate in bits per second | | audioBitrate | number | 128000 | Audio bitrate in bits per second |

Permission Functions

| Function | Return Type | Description | | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | --------------------------------- | | requestCameraPermissionsAsync | Promise<PermissionResponse> | Requests camera access | | requestMicrophonePermissionsAsync | Promise<PermissionResponse> | Requests microphone access | | getCameraPermissionsAsync | Promise<PermissionResponse> | Gets camera permission status | | getMicrophonePermissionsAsync | Promise<PermissionResponse> | Gets microphone permission status |

PermissionResponse Type

| Property | Type | Description | | --------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------- | | status | string | Permission status ('granted', 'denied', etc.) | | granted | boolean | Whether permission is granted |

License

MIT